Tavis Smiley and Cornel West's 15-city national tour hopes to raise awareness about the plight of the poor

On Wednesday, August 10, 2011, PBS talk show host, Tavis Smiley, and Princeton University professor Cornel West dined at Busboys & Poets while in Washington, DC on their 15-city poverty tour.  The Tour seeks to highlight the economic disparity between rich and poor.

Both Smiley and West have stirred a great deal of controversy as a result of the tour, which the pair has used both to highlight the struggle of the nation’s poor, as well as to urge President Obama to speak more about economically marginalized Americans. “It’s not just about the president,” Smiley told the AP.  Smiley and West commented during a Live CNN show, that they want the President and Congress to give the poor a voice, have a White House conference on poverty, and create a plan to eradicate poverty, similar to the plans to bail out the auto and banking industries and Wall Street.

There are some in the progressive black community that have labeled Smiley and West, who host a radio show together, as self-promoting, self-serving Obama haters.  The issue of poverty in America is one of criticl importance, and it seems it would be so much more productive to keep the focus on what can be done to eradicate poverty, instead of criticizing and name-calling.

In a number of the cities on the tour, Smiley and West have listened to citizens tell stories about poverty and housing issues.  They have also had extensive conversations with local groups, addressing the issue of poverty.  While in Washington, D.C., Smiley and West spent the night on the streets with some of our nation’s homeless people. They spoke to a 23-year-old woman sleeping on the street who had been evicted from her home, lost her job and was forced to drop out of college where she had been studying architecture. “The new poor are the former middle class,” West said. “We’ve seen so many people on this tour who are now part of the new poor, and those stories were arresting in every city we went to.”

West while speaking to various news media, has condemned the recent debt ceiling legislation because of the budget cuts that were   part of the deal. Over the next 10 years, the law will allow at least $2.1 trillion in spending cuts that could hurt entitlement programs, such as Social Security and Medicaid. West states “Poverty has been criminalized, poor people demonized and what we want to do is dramatize poverty and humanize our perception of poor people to overturn what has been in place for so long.” “And while the country is watching to see how issues like the collective bargaining debate play out here politically, everyday people are losing their homes and their jobs.”, Smiley adds. ”We don’t talk about the poor because they are a throwaway population. They’re disposable.

Too many poor people are being rendered more and more invisible in this country every single day. I’ve said consistently it’s the telling of truth that allows suffering to speak.  As bad as things are now, they are going to get exponentially worse when these cuts kick in.”

Smiley feels the tour has accomplished exactly what he and West intended it to accomplish. “The tour did everything it was supposed to do.” he said. “It’s not just about raising awareness. It’s about starting a dialogue about poverty and the poor in this country.”  Smiley concludes, “The question that I would pose to the critics is not why are we doing what we are doing or saying, it’s ‘if you care about poor people why aren’t you doing anything?’”

The mural in The Howard Zinn room pays homage to owner Andy Shallal‘s late dear friend and his best-known work, A People’s History of the United States.  The title of the mural “I’ve Known Rivers” is a poem by Langston Hughes that stretches across the mural, weaving together the inspiration behind the name Busboys and Poets and the events and people that inspired Zinn’s faith in the possibility of historic change.  Zinn’s life work stresses the importance for a critical understanding of our history and Shallal’s wall emphasizes Zinn’s philosophy. This philosophy underlines the role of working people, women, people of color, and organized social movements in shaping our history, and how history is made not by a few heroic individuals, but by people’s everyday choices and actions.

We ask that you please join us and some special friends listed below in celebrating International Peace Day and Howard Zinn’s life and works on September 21st at Busboys and Poets in Hyattsville from 6-10pm. View the official invite here.

As Ahmad Fawzi (former Director of News Media at the UN) said in 1999, ‘It is the peoples of this world who can create peace.’ If we want a united world then it is up to every single one of us to become involved in the process; Peace Day 21 September is the starting point. – Peaceoneday.org

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Distinguished friends who will be attending:

Jeff Zinn

Bernice Johnson Reagon

Amy Goodman

Cornel West

Marian Wright Edelman

Anthony Arnove

Laura Flanders

David Zirin

Ethelbert Miller

Barbara Ehrenreich

Performances by Emma’s Revolution, Chelsey Green and Culture Shock

http://www.examiner.com/arts-in-washington-dc/art-busboys

The month of June brought with it many visits to exhibits, galleries, and art shows. None surprised me more than the unexpected showcase of artists currently on display at Busboys and Poets in Shirlington Village. I had gone there for some coffee and was captivated by the colorful artwork newly on display across from the bar area, which was the newly exhibited work of Bensonn Anspach. As I asked around, I found out an art show was scheduled and knew I had to see what was going on with the changing scene at Busboys. Art has always been a staple, in one way or another, of coffee houses and restaurants but Busboys has taken it one step further, adding a “Curator-in-Residence” position to their growing roster of artistic and creative talents facilitating the spread of the arts throughout the community. Simone Jacobson, the first Curator-in-Residence for Busboys, developed two shows featuring four dynamic artists from the DC art scene. “Food for Thought”, works by J. Ford Hoffman, and “Tiny Treasures: Size Matters”, works by Bensonn Anspach, Bat Favitsou, and Tim Rodgers. These artists showcased a variety of styles and amazing talent. From the found art box installations of J. Ford Huffman, which demonstrated a keen eye for details and a very unique pers

pective; to the colorful and expressive pieces of Bensonn Anspach’s ‘MemeBots’, featuring MemeBots from Ovechkin to Obama; and the work of Tim Rodgers, which utilized stylized doodles on skateboard decks and featured portraits reminiscent of colorful statues.
I caught up with the artists to find out more about their creative process and work. Bensonn Anspach is a graphic artist and web-designer whose artistic process first began with the use of Post-Its. Easy to buy and providing a “limited canvas” for him to use, he was able to create pen and ink, cross-hatch MemeBots which would later become large scale paintings, on canvas and wood, such as those featured in his exhibit at Busboys. The first thing I noticed about his work was the amount of personality in each piece. It took me a minute to even notice that they were stylized robots or memebots in this case, until after I’d finished laughing at how great each piece was because he captures a saying or moment in such a way as to leave each piece full of energy. Finding his creative influences in graffiti art, music, current events, viral media madness, and anything else that he considers funny or comes together from an obscure story or reference; Anspach’s work is a visual feast and his use of color is phenomenal.When I asked why he uses such vibrant colors in his work he replied “I don’t like depressing stuff”. I appreciated the fact that this artist simply let’s his work become what it will be and doesn’t spend too much time contemplating the meaning behind it all. This relaxed attitude towards his work makes it stand out as compelling because of its simplicity. It is a way to take the absurd around and among us and spin it on its head to create something unusual, yet familiar. It is easy to stand back and spot the references he’s making in his work, from the double-rainbow bot, to the more serious (kind of) ‘Robama’. What makes his work distinctive is his use of color, stylized lines, and the pop-culture references he brings forth in a refreshingly new way. He has spent two years creating his collection of around 20 different ‘MemeBots’ and spoke to me about expanding his work into other mediums in the future. I can only hope he’ll choose to do a show of his early work on post-its.

J. Ford Huffman comes from a journalistic background and the influence of this is apparent in the use of space and organization within his box installations, or as he termed them “tiny theatre” pieces which create intimate scenes. In his current 26 piece show at Busboys, I found myself constantly turning back to two pieces, one entitled “The Table” and the other “Age before Beauty, no.5″. In discussing the work with him, I found it compelling that he waited to hear my take on each piece before offering his own. We didn’t see either from the same perspective but that fact only served to make his work visceral because it encouraged conversation.  His work has been described as “hanging sculptures that are whimsical, enigmatic and address the formal elements of art: Line, color and form.” His process involves rummaging for those things other don’t see the value in, at auctions, estate sales, etc. and pulling pieces together to create little theatres, moments captured in time. His work is the ultimate memory box and the consciousness through which his work comes to life will leave you searching for all the various meanings to be found in each box. I found his use of mixed media and children’s toys to make for profound, impacting statements. The amount of work which seems to be common place in each piece of art is extensive. Each piece is one of a kind and demonstrates truly fine art.

Continue reading on Examiner.com Art @ Busboys – Washington DC Arts | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/arts-in-washington-dc/art-busboys#ixzz1RMgGDHFe

Gil Scott-Heron died Friday afternoon, May 27, 2011.  For those of us that came to political consciousness with Gil Scott’s  The Revolution Will Not Be Televised and for those of us that saw the truth of the Watergate Affair as Gil explained it poetically in H20 Gate Blues – It’s like loosing a member of the family — Like the loss of a favorite uncle, or the brother that was always speakin’ truth in a way that was fresh and irreverent.  The relative at the table that was always making someone uncomfortable with what they had to say—but there could be no denyin’ that it was the truth!

Gil “schooled” a generation of young activists in the 70′s and paved the way for a new generation of rappers in the late 80′s and early 90′s.  it is certain that he influenced hip hop and much of today’s music.

Gil was equal parts poet, social commentator, activist and pop star. Often referred to as the Godfather of Rap (a title he vehemently denied) many rappers ignored his plea to “not lean so heavily on rhyme and concentrate on the message” (and he meant the socio-political message).

Gil Scott-Heron had a drug problem (much has been written about his addiction), but this is about the loss of his voice in our world, a loss that must be noted.

The Poets that take the stage at Busboys and Poets weekly owe a huge debt to Gil Scott.  Please check out the message he left for today’s poets.  Message to the Messengers

We think this is an act that is long overdue…If you agree, please share it with as many people as you can.  Let’s start a movement!

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Protesters at the State Capital in Wisconsin

REPRINTED FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES WEB SITE

Last week, in the face of protest demonstrations against Wisconsin’s new union-busting governor, Scott Walker — demonstrations that continued through the weekend, with huge crowds on Saturday — Representative Paul Ryan made an unintentionally apt comparison: “It’s like Cairo has moved to Madison.”

It wasn’t the smartest thing for Mr. Ryan to say, since he probably didn’t mean to compare Mr. Walker, a fellow Republican, to Hosni Mubarak. Or maybe he did — after all, quite a few prominent conservatives, including Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Rick Santorum, denounced the uprising in Egypt and insist that President Obama should have helped the Mubarak regime suppress it.

In any case, however, Mr. Ryan was more right than he knew. For what’s happening in Wisconsin isn’t about the state budget, despite Mr. Walker’s pretense that he’s just trying to be fiscally responsible. It is, instead, about power. What Mr. Walker and his backers are trying to do is to make Wisconsin — and eventually, America — less of a functioning democracy and more of a third-world-style oligarchy. And that’s why anyone who believes that we need some counterweight to the political power of big money should be on the demonstrators’ side.

Some background: Wisconsin is indeed facing a budget crunch, although its difficulties are less severe than those facing many other states. Revenue has fallen in the face of a weak economy, while stimulus funds, which helped close the gap in 2009 and 2010, have faded away.

In this situation, it makes sense to call for shared sacrifice, including monetary concessions from state workers. And union leaders have signaled that they are, in fact, willing to make such concessions.

But Mr. Walker isn’t interested in making a deal. Partly that’s because he doesn’t want to share the sacrifice: even as he proclaims that Wisconsin faces a terrible fiscal crisis, he has been pushing through tax cuts that make the deficit worse. Mainly, however, he has made it clear that rather than bargaining with workers, he wants to end workers’ ability to bargain.

The bill that has inspired the demonstrations would strip away collective bargaining rights for many of the state’s workers, in effect busting public-employee unions. Tellingly, some workers — namely, those who tend to be Republican-leaning — are exempted from the ban; it’s as if Mr. Walker were flaunting the political nature of his actions.

Why bust the unions? As I said, it has nothing to do with helping Wisconsin deal with its current fiscal crisis. Nor is it likely to help the state’s budget prospects even in the long run: contrary to what you may have heard, public-sector workers in Wisconsin and elsewhere are paid somewhat less than private-sector workers with comparable qualifications, so there’s not much room for further pay squeezes.

So it’s not about the budget; it’s about the power.

In principle, every American citizen has an equal say in our political process. In practice, of course, some of us are more equal than others. Billionaires can field armies of lobbyists; they can finance think tanks that put the desired spin on policy issues; they can funnel cash to politicians with sympathetic views (as the Koch brothers did in the case of Mr. Walker). On paper, we’re a one-person-one-vote nation; in reality, we’re more than a bit of an oligarchy, in which a handful of wealthy people dominate.

Given this reality, it’s important to have institutions that can act as counterweights to the power of big money. And unions are among the most important of these institutions.

You don’t have to love unions, you don’t have to believe that their policy positions are always right, to recognize that they’re among the few influential players in our political system representing the interests of middle- and working-class Americans, as opposed to the wealthy. Indeed, if America has become more oligarchic and less democratic over the last 30 years — which it has — that’s to an important extent due to the decline of private-sector unions.

And now Mr. Walker and his backers are trying to get rid of public-sector unions, too.

There’s a bitter irony here. The fiscal crisis in Wisconsin, as in other states, was largely caused by the increasing power of America’s oligarchy. After all, it was superwealthy players, not the general public, who pushed for financial deregulation and thereby set the stage for the economic crisis of 2008-9, a crisis whose aftermath is the main reason for the current budget crunch. And now the political right is trying to exploit that very crisis, using it to remove one of the few remaining checks on oligarchic influence.

So will the attack on unions succeed? I don’t know. But anyone who cares about retaining government of the people by the people should hope that it doesn’t.

A version of this op-ed appeared in print in the New York tomes on February 21, 2011, on page A17 of the New York edition.

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Visit Teaching for Change’s Blog!  Our latest articles:

Two New Children’s Books Fail to Honor the Biblioburro’s Story
Staff reviews of Waiting for the Biblioburro (by Monica Brown) and Biblioburro: A True Story from Colombia (by Jeanette Winter)

In Colombia, internal conflict between paramilitaries and guerrilla groups ebbs and flows, exacerbated by political upheaval and the drug trade. In the north of Colombia, in a rural area controlled mainly by paramilitaries, and still under threat of violence and repression, a former schoolteacher has outfitted his burros as a mobile lending library. For 10 years, Luis Humberto Soriano Bohórquez has gone from village to village reading to children, helping them with their homework, and lending books to anyone within burro distance. He and his wife have also built a library that serves more than 250 children in the area. More…

Civil Rights Teaching at the Schomburg Center
The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture incorporates our publication Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching into its summer programs
Article by LaTissia Mitchell | Interview by Jonathan Tucker

Teaching for Change encourages teachers and students to question and rethink the world inside and outside their classrooms. This makes it especially gratifying when our curricula and teaching guides become the cornerstone of after-school and summer educational programs. The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture used our publication Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching (published with PRRAC) in its 2011 Summer Education Institute. More…

Luis Humberto Soriano Bohórquez and his biblioburro.
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